To that exclusive group of NHL goalies — a club that now stands at zero after Osgood's retirement — it’s simply referred as "The Helmet."

“We’d look at our reflection in the glass and think, ‘yeah, this is cool,’ ” reminisces Chris Osgood about his time playing junior in Medicine Hat, about wearing the helmet and cat’s eye cage combo, which morphed into Bauer and Winwell versions in later years.

By:Denis GrignonSpecial to the Star, Published on Sat Jul 30 2011

NOTE: This article has been edited from a previous version.

To that exclusive group of NHL goalies — a club that had withered to one until Chris Osgood’s retirement last week made it zero — it’s simply referred to as “The Helmet.”

The Detroit goalie’s three Stanley cups and 401 wins should stand as his crowning achievements. But it may be that round and red head bucket and white wire face grill that many fans will remember him for first.

What was originally the Cooper SK2000 wasn’t always perceived as an antiquated piece of goalie gear that belonged in a display case. Once it was seen as futuristic, as evidenced by its appearance in the first Tron flick and the original Robocop.

“We’d look at our reflection in the glass and think, ‘yeah, this is cool,’ ” reminisces Osgood about his time playing junior in Medicine Hat, about wearing the helmet and cat’s eye cage combo, which morphed into Bauer and Winwell versions in later years.

Its non-descript look is one reason he and many of his brethren stuck with the helmet long after it went out of production, and the more modern facemask of today, with its own personalized, custom artwork, became ubiquitous.

“I was always laid back,” said Osgoode. “(Other goalies) would get their masks painted. I never wanted any attention on myself. And that’s what my helmet represented.”

Former Maple Leaf Glenn Healy, who wore The Helmet for his entire career until he retired in 2001, concurs.

“We weren’t one of those guys who gets his fancy little mask airbrushed with your superheroes on it,” says Healy, now a colour commentator with Hockey Night in Canada. “Dressing yourself up like some kind of rock star . . . you got KISS on your helmet? Give me a break. Just play the game.”

However stinging those comments are, the real pain Healy and his fellow old-schoolers suffered because of The Helmet was worse.

The modern goalie headgear offers more protection, with contoured surfaces that make pucks deflect off the head and face. A shot to a Healy or Osgood helmet, conversely, made full impact.

Dan Cloutier might have been the last bearer of The Helmet if his pro career hadn’t been cut short two years ago by injuries. That they weren’t head-related, he admits, is remarkable. Today a consultant for several junior goalies in the OHL, Cloutier says, “Now that I’m running drills and seeing how hard people shoot pucks, I look back and wonder, ‘Wow! What was I doing?’ ”

Reverse peer pressure also played a role.

“I tried wearing (a modern mask) a couple of times,” said Osgood. “But the minute I put it on, my teammates gave me such a ribbing that I had to take it off.”

Healy, too, says he tried “every mask that was ever made.”

“There’s also survival of your career,” he says. “I’ll put up with the six stitches versus six goals against.” (Healy says he has north of a “hundred” stitches as the result of keeping the old-fashioned cage).

None says league officials ever pressured them to adapt. But Cloutier says team management, “for insurance reasons” did when he played in L.A.

“Did it affect my play?” he wonders today. “I don’t know. But certainly it affected me mentally. I just didn’t feel like myself out there. Maybe (the helmet) wasn’t the nicest piece, but it worked for me.”

That love affair came with another price, too. Because the helmet was obsolete, finding replacements and parts was a constant quest. While Healy and his equipment managers had to “scrounge for pieces, even finding stuff in beer leagues,” Osgood had it a bit easier.

“I was fortunate someone would show up and just give me one out of generosity.”

Whenever he got traded, a box of parts typically followed him.

Luckily, Wings head equipment manger Paul Boyer was creative with more than just a drill and wrench.

“I got Mickey Redmond, our TV play-by-play guy, to ask viewers for wires, side clips, anything they might have for this thing.”

And when the team masseuse remembered he had two HM30s in his garage back home in Moscow, Boyer promptly had them shipped.

“Yeah,” saids Boyer. “Ozzie finished his career with a helmet from the Red Army.”

Islander Rick Dipietro sported The Helmet for a brief period late last season. Actually it was Osgood’s old lid from his days on that team). But only because his regular mask hurt his face, which hadn’t healed from one-punch fight with Pittsburgh’s Brent Johnson.

Osgood says he’s at peace with his retirement and the retirement of The Helmet.

“I like the fact I was the last guy to use it,” he says, “That’s part of the reason that I kept using it.”

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